Upper St. Clair boys soccer team seeking consistency

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 10, 2018 | 3:54 PM

After finishing second in the section standings last year, Upper St. Clair’s boys soccer team is determined to get back to the top of Section 2-4A.

The Panthers got off to a good start with wins in their first two section matches. They knocked off rival Peters Township, 4-2, in the opener. It was Upper St. Clair’s first win over the Indians, last year’s section champs, since Sept. 22, 2015.

The squad followed that with a 1-0 overtime victory at Bethel Park. Mitch Friday scored his first goal three minutes into the extra session for the winner.

“Those teams gave us problems early on, so it was good to get those wins so early,” Upper St. Clair senior captain Zach Ioli said. “Our team has sparks of wonderful things. But, sometimes, we don’t play up to our potential. It’s one of those challenges we have to figure out.”

While the Panthers are 2-0 in section play, they’re 0-2-1 in other matches. They fell to Dublin Coffman, 3-1, to start the year and competed over the weekend at the Pine-Richland tournament, where they lost to Cathedral Prep, 4-3, and tied Mars, 0-0, in a downpour.

“We have a good game or two and then we just don’t quite have the consistency yet,” Upper St. Clair coach Uwe Schneider said. “We have the potential to play well, and the two section wins show that. But, we need to focus on being consistent in every game. Bringing the same effort and determination in every game is not easy.”

That is a concern because the Panthers believe the section is very balanced this year.

“The fact that now that we’re down to three sections with the new 4A classification, there is a concentration of really good teams in each section. There is not one team at this point right now that you can say is the team to beat. Every game is up for grabs. I am not going into any section games this year assuming anything,” Schneider said. “Having all the neighborhood rivals in the section also makes every game especially challenging. These guys know each other and are always competing against each other.”

Upper St. Clair thinks one way to ensure consistency is to win the possession battle.

“Our team this year, one of the big goals is to keep the ball at our feet most of the time,” Ioli said. “In past years, we’ve done a lot of kick and chase on offense. We want to keep the ball in our possession and establish that early in each game. This group of guys has shown a lot of potential. I think this could be a good year for us.”

Schneider has seen the team follow the plan, at times, so far.

“I think the key for us is going to be that we can actually play a style of play that is necessary at the high school level. You have to be able to pressure the ball and outwork an opponent. It’s getting everyone behind the ball and, when the team turns it over, going forward as quick as possible. We can do it, but just not as consistently as we’d like. We’re getting there,” he said.

“In the end, that’s going to be the best thing for us. We need to bring the necessary intensity to each game. We have some good speed and some physically strong players. We need more possession so it’s not just chasing the ball all the time. Once we bring that component to our game, we can be competitive, but so can seven or eight other teams.”

The Panthers reached the WPIAL semifinals two seasons ago. They fell to North Allegheny in last year’s quarterfinals and finished 7-10-1. The players — especially the eight seniors — hope to draw from those experiences this fall.

“I think this will be a big year for our team. We’re building from last year. Two years ago, we lost 11 starters, so we were kind of inexperienced last year. I think this will be a big year for us to go deeper in the playoffs,” Ioli said. “I think the seniors will have a big impact. We’re definitely relying on a lot of the seniors to step up and do their roles the way they know how to.”

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: Upper St. Clair